'In the Jury Room': State v. Knight
D E N V E R, Aug. 24, 2004 -- This week's installment of ABC News' In the Jury Room focuses on a jury considering the case of Bryson Knight, a 20-year-old college student charged with first-degree murder and facing the possibility of spending the rest of his life in prison. He admitted he fatally shot 22-year-old Lewis Carl Morris, but claimed he acted in self-defense.
"This should never have happened. There is no reason for this to have occurred, " prosecutor Mitch Morrissey said. "You have two young men here ... Who knows what they would be 20 years from now? One of them is dead, and one of them is facing the potential of a life sentence in the penitentiary."
The son of a prison guard, Knight grew up in Montbello, a rough neighborhood in Denver. After graduating high school, he got a job in a brewery. Two years later, he decided to go to college to study criminal justice.
Morris, nicknamed "Butter," had a series of convictions for gang activity in Oklahoma. According to his family, he had moved to Denver to turn his life around and was working as a glass cutter.
The two men's lives intersected on Feb. 2, 2002, when Knight, who was home from college, stopped at a local convenience store for a snack.
Knight was sitting in the driver's seat of his car when Morris approached him and, without warning, punched him in the face.
The prosecution believed Morris punched Knight because a friend of Knight's had insulted his girlfriend, Nadine Hughes.
Knight said the fight left him badly bruised and angry. The next day, he decided to challenge Morris to a one-on-one fight.
According to Knight, a friend informed him that Morris was a gang member and handed him a gun for protection. Knight said he had never held a gun before and was only planning to have a fistfight with Morris.
Knight claimed that when he was waiting outside Hughes' home, Morris, who was standing in the doorway, pointed a gun directly at him and fired.
Nancy Holton, Knight's court-appointed defense attorney, argued that it was another surprise attack from Morris.
"The guy did just what the guy does; he sucker-punched him again. He pulled a gun and shot at him," she said.
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